2019 UIL High School State Swimming and Diving Championships

Preliminaries for the Texas High School Swimming and Diving Championships, at the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swim Center in Austin have gone underway. Among the star-studded field of junior national finalists are many battles to fight and records to be broken.

6A PrelimsHighlights

In the boys 200 medley relay, the top 2 times going into finals are Smithson Valley (1:31.95) and Kingwood (1:32.11). Kingwood’s strong breaststroker Jacob Bass (25.19) and Comal Smithson Valley’s strong flyer Konnar Klinksiek (21.34) almost cancel each other out, with both relays’ back and free swimmers near-even as well. This race will come down to which relay shows up with their best game for finals.

Houston Stratford’s Emma Stephenson neared the 6A record in the 50 free. Stephenson’s prelims swim of 22.75 is just 0.07 off the 2017 mark of 22.68. For reference, the Texas state record is a 22.32, but the 6A record looks to have Stephenson’s name on it by finals.

On the boys’ side, Konnar Klinksiek (20.15) and Klein’s Caleb Duncan (20.16) swam only 0.01 apart in prelims, with both well under their seed times. How will this race unfold?

In the girls 100 fly, Emma Sticklen (Katy Taylor) and Lillie Nordmann (Conroe Woodlands) are seeded just 0.10 seconds apart. At winter juniors-west in December, Sticklen shut out Nordmann for the national title 52.29 to 52.45. Will Nordmann prevail this time around or Sticklen keep her dominance? Both girls’ nationals swims are also near the Texas state/6A record of 52.16.

5A Prelims Highlights

The Dallas Highland Park boys also look to break their 200 medley relay record, set last year with a 1:33.51. The relay swam a 1:33.62, nearly 3 seconds off their seed time.

Montgomery’s Kaitlynn Sims, 3-time junior national champion, could write her name on two records. Despite swimming slower than her 200 free seed time (1:48.73), Sims’ seed time of 1:47.30 is just a half second off the 2015 record of 1:46.80.

In the 500 free, Sims’ seed time of 4:40.93 is already 2 seconds under the 5A/state record of 4:42.16. At junior nationals in December, Sims was a 4:39.52, so she has been under 4:40 before. Either way, Sims will most likely finish her senior with 2 state records.

Denison’s Lindsay Looney already broke her own 100 fly 5A record with a 53.59 in prelims, and could possibly re-break it in finals. The question is: can Looney write her name on a second record in the 200 IM? Before her fly race, Looney swam a 2:01.36 in the IM. However, at junior nationals, Looney swam a 1:59.57, just 0.15 off the 5A record of 1:59.42 held by Madisyn Cox.

Also joining the record-breakers’ club is junior national championJack Armstrong of Manvel. Armstrong swam a strong 20.10 50 free to break the 5A record of 20.28. It may be a longshot, but could Armstrong be aiming for Jimmy Feigen’s 2008 state record of 19.49? Armstrong already been under 20 seconds at junior nationals with a 19.81.

In the 100 free, Armstrong likely has a better shot at another 2008 Feign record. Armstrong already has the 5A record (44.57), yet swam a 44.62 in prelims. Armstrong swam a 43.35 in December, which also won at junior nationals, and Feign’s 2008 mark is a 43.05. Could Armstrong join Sims and Looney to be a double record-breaker?

Two more 5A records were broken in prelims as well, both by Georgetown swimmers. The first was by Greyson Alarcon in the 100 fly, who took down the 2009 mark of 48.46 with a 48.05. The second was in the 400 free relay, where they swam a 3:06.36 to take down the 2013 mark of 3:06.54.

How fast will finals be? Find out on Saturday at 9:30 am CT/10:30 am ET for 6A, 3:30 pm CT/4:30 pm ET for 5A. Live stream will also be available on the NFHS network.

Leave a Reply

About Nick Pecoraro

Nick Pecoraro has had a huge passion for swimming since his first dive in the pool. He joined the sport at age 11 and instantly became drawn to the sport. He was a breaststroker and IMer when competing, but still uses the sport as his go-to cardio. As a kinesiology …